NIRVANA

Make this body the field, and make your daily Karma (actions) the seed.
Water (ਸਿੰਚਨ) it with God's Name. Let your mind be the farmer;
Sprout (God) in your Heart, and you will attain the state of
Nirvaanaa (ਆਤਮਕ ਅਵਸਥਾ , ਮਾਇਆ ਦੇ ਪੁਰਨਿਆ ਤੌਂ ਪਰੇ) ||1|| (sggs 23).
Says Nanak, the Divine Light has dawned within my mind;
I have obtained the state of Nirvana (sggs 206).
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Perhaps the best approach to understand the meaning of the word "Nirvana" (pronounced Nirvaana)
is to compare it with "Sansaar", which is in diametric contradiction
to "Nirvana". In this way — by first understanding "Sansaar"
— the meaning of "Nirvana" will become more clear when it
is seen as the opposite of "Sansaar". So, what is Sansaar?

Literally, that which is in a state of constant flux is referred to as Sansaar
or material world (Maya) — the place of repeated birth and death. Whatever we see in
Sansaar is changeable; nothing is constant. This is the law of birth
and death. This involves suffering — "Dukha", which means
without permanence — because we want things to last yet nothing can. Being the
product of conceptual mind and its egoism (the false self-ਆਪਾ ਭਾਵ), the Sansaar
is an illusion (Maya's deception); for it is a perishable entity. Hence its
nature is emptiness. Sansaar (or world-appearance) in a sense arises
fromdoubts, duality, Mayaic Budhi, False ego-sense (Haumai) : volitional activity conditioned by desires, lust,
aversion, delusion, greed, anger, attachment, self-conceit, enviousness, stubborn
mindedness, selfishness, and so on. In essence, Sansaar is ignorance:
an unenlightened existence.

ਜੰਮਣੁ ਮਰਣਾ ਹੈ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ॥: Jamman maranaa
hai Sansaar: The world is tied to birth and death (sggs 364).

ਜਗਿ ਹਉਮੈ ਮੈਲੁ ਦੁਖੁ ਪਾਇਆ ਮਲੁ ਲਾਗੀ ਦੂਜੈ ਭਾਇ ॥: Jagg haumai mailu dukh paaiaa
mall laagee doojai bhaai: On account of the filth of Haume (egotism), the world suffers in pain. Because of the (love of Maya), the filth of duality sticks to the world (sggs 39).

To the contrary, Nirvana is the total freedom from bondage to Sansaar.
Thus, the nature of Nirvana is complete freedom from Maya. Therefore, Nirvana's characteristic is complete
liberation from all suffering (Dukha), and its nature is "Sunn
" — Spiritual Emptiness, Spiritual Silence, complete Spiritual
Freedom or "total disappearance" of illusory world-appearance (Mayaic thoughts...). As
the opposite of Sansaar, the Nirvana is halting of the Mayaic efforts. In that sense, the Realization of Nirvana
is the cessation of the Karma-causality. By sensing the realities of
suffering, man simultaneously comes to know the significance of the ideal of
emancipation, or the condition where there is no suffering from repeated birth
and death. Nirvana is the end of doubts, duality or the feeling of "likes"
and "dislikes". Thus, Nirvana is the indescribable Supreme
State or Ultimate Attainment which follows the complete cessation of suffering.

ਮਾਇਆ ਫਾਸ ਬੰਧ ਨਹੀ ਫਾਰੈ ਅਰੁ ਮਨ ਸੁੰਨਿ ਨ ਲੂਕੇ ॥ ਆਪਾ ਪਦੁ ਨਿਰਬਾਣੁ ਨ ਚੀਨ੍ਹ੍ਹਿਆ ਇਨ ਬਿਧਿ ਅਭਿਉ ਨ ਚੂਕੇ ॥੨॥: (O Gurdev! My mind, self...) does not break free from the bonds of the noose of Maya and does not seek the shelter of the "Sunn"
(void, thoughtlessness, ਅਫੁਰ...). (This mind, self...) does not realize its Mool which is liberated from Mayaic existence, in this way its doubt does not depart. ||2|| (sggs 475).

In this context, the word Nirvaana has a number of different translations
— depending upon the perspective. For example, in most general sense it means
the following: "going out", "to be blown out", "to extinguish", and
"extinction". In religious terms, however, it is generally used to
refer to a person who has attained Spiritual Enlightenment through having extinguished
all desires and material attachments (hunger of Maya). In other words, Nirvaana signifies
a Transcendental State, which is characterized by the "going out"
from the mind of the ego illusion and its faults. Thus, it is the total or final
extinction — by destruction of all rebirth-making Vaasnaas (undigested
desires) in us.

In the same context, Nirvana also means the state of "no craving",
"no sinful thoughts", "sweeping" clean the mind of all evil
passions, "escape from misery", "perfect stillness or calmness", "extinction
of individuality" or egoism, "the disappearance of form", "being
freed from the evil paths", "getting out of the forest of the Aggregates",
"no more weaving of the cloth of birth and death", "going to
the other side of the stream", "non-obstruction, emancipation or freedom",
"liberation" from the realm of "Sansaar" or the cycle of birth and death,
the "quenching of the flame" of evil passions, and annihilation or
destruction of selfish life so that emptiness and nothingness ("Sunn")
are acknowledged.

To put in simple language, Nirvana means ending the process of materialistic
life (Mayaic efforts, the Manmukh lifestyle...). Where the materialistic life ends, the Spiritual Life begins (the Gurmukh Lifestyle). The cycle
of material existence (or Sansaar) signifies the conditioned state
of the mind. Nirvana, on the other hand, is the liberation from the
cycle of material existence — the completely purified state of the mind. Thus,
Nirvana is the complete silencing of Mayaic thoughts, concepts, notions and
ultimate sublimation of all it's wanderings. It's the state of Unconditioned
Consciousness.

A person in the state of Nirvana is a Jeevanmukta (living
Liberated) — liberation from the false self, body-consciousness and worry ("Chintaa")
caused by the off balanced mind, distorted vision or material
consciousness. It is the state of complete tranquility or the peaceful
condition whose surface is disturbed by not even the ripple of a wave of thought.
Upon entering this highest state, our hearts will be able to reflect the Light
of Absolute Truth. Thus, Nirvana is the Ultimate Goodness, the Absolute,
and the Highest State. It is the Ultimate Peace wherein the mind is fully disciplined
and tamed. Present always and everywhere, this sublime condition lies asleep
within — a potential waiting to be Realized by the seeker at the end of an arduous
search.

Nirvana is identification with the Mool within (Source, Origin, Jot...), the Immutable in the changes
of existence. Thus, only the person who identifies himself with the truthful
living will attain Nirvana; and he who has entered Nirvana has
become Eternal and Immortal while living in this body. Thus, Nirvana
is in building the path of Righteousness, and destroying the path of obstinate
error. Upon attaining the state of Nirvana, our thoughts — Vaasnaas
or conditionings — will be dissolved again; our false concepts will break to
pieces and our false ego (individuality) will be shattered. Hence, Nirvana
simply is the blotting out of false self. In this state, the soul is in ceaseless
meditative union with Spirit, in which the false self (ego illusion) perceives
itself as the Pure Self. The scriptures tell us that happy is he who has ceased
to live for sensual pleasures and rests in the Truth. Verily his Intuitive Poise
of the mind is the Supreme Bliss. It is the ideal condition of complete rest,
harmony, stability, joy, disinterested wisdom and compassion. It is the end
of spiritual ignorance.

The state of Nirvana is "here" and "now", not at
some "other time" or "other place". Neither it is after
death phenomena; for it's not a post-mortem state!

In other words, it is not
futuristic and otherworldly experience. Nirvana is to live the life
on earth as the result of Spiritual Awakening (the Gurmukh Lifestyle). It is not a place, but a state
of the mind in which one is released from the Humai or ego illusion and its faults: desire, anger,greed, etc. Therefore, to achieve Nirvana "here" and
"now" — by becoming the Spiritual Being (the Gurmukh) — is the
ultimate goal of human life. A person dwelling in the supreme state of Nirvana,
watches the Ocean of Pure Awareness and his little bodily wave as one and the
same thing.

How can the state of Nirvana be experienced? First and foremost, we
are reminded by the Gurbani not to waste our
time and energy in useless discussions or arguments. Instead, we are urged to
struggle with our false self in order to "blow out" our desires and
fear.

The Divine is Nirvanic Being — permeating and pervading everywhere.
In our Essential Nature, we are That. To realize That Unconditioned Consciousness,
we must uplift our deluded consciousness to Nirvanic Beatitude; the
state where the thought of "Sansaar" and the thought of "Nirvana"
both are no more! How can we realize this Sublime State, "here" and
"now", while still living in this body? Here are some suggestions
from the Gurbani.